National cricket coach Mark Harper is appealing to his players to give a better account of themselves in their upcoming Four-Day Regional match against the England Lions on Friday at the Guyana National Stadium.
The recently-appointed coach underscored the quality of the players on the English team, which arrived last evening, and pointed out that there is need for the side to be a bit more “meticulous” in their approach to this weekend’s fixture.
He made this point on the backdrop of Guyana’s less than impressive batting performances in the tournament where the team only managed to pass the 200-run mark once, against Barbados in their last round match.
Harper anticipates that the England Lions will mount a “tough challenge” and said as a result, the coaching staff is currently identifying players for various roles to ensure that Guyana can compete against the foreign team. Apart from that, the players underwent game sense training yesterday at the Bourda ground with the aim of keeping their wickets intact.
Each pair of batsmen had 10 overs to face and real match conditions were employed by the coach. Harper said the aim was to “replicate a real match situation” where they will have to build partnerships.
After the exercise Harper said that he was pleased with what he saw while also declaring that the team’s batting has improved in the tournament. He is also hoping that this continues especially with the return of Narsingh Deonarine from injury.
Commenting on Deonarine, Harper said that the player produced a medical certificate and he will be going through a series of beep tests before match day. Harper, the older brother of Roger Harper, hopes that Narsingh is “fit and focussed and even hungry to maintain a place in the West Indies team.”
Harper also hopes that Narsingh’s class and experience in the middle order will help to give the team a good total. Further, this will allow the team’s bowlers to continue to bowl well in the tournament.
Replying to questions about leg spinner Devendra Bishoo, who was selected for the West Indies for World Cup duties in India, Harper noted that while it is a big blow to the team it is also an opportunity for another bowler to step up and stake a claim.
He said that for the next bowler Bishoo’s absence should be seen as a motivation to command a place in the national team.
Meanwhile, at yesterday’s simulation match Leon Johnson, Vishal Singh and Deonarine top scored with 31 (5×4), 28 (3×4) and 25 (3×4) not out respectively. Singh and Deonarine put on the highest partnership of 53 from their 10 overs. Royston and Steven Jacobs pieced together a solid partnership in front of the selectors and coaching staff.
